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Weird question: What would happen if the president ordered the destruction of all records of the loans, payments, balances and other paperwork in federal hands

Weird question: What would happen if the president ordered the destruction of all records of the loans, payments, balances and other paperwork in federal hands (edit: I should have been specific and said I meant student loans, not just everything...)? As POTUS that seems like something he is free to do right? And it would make it all but impossible to actually enforce any existing debts right? You cannot sue someone if you don't have a contract or a record of payments etc.

kelseyfrog 4y ago
Indeed a weird question. It is reminiscent of the destruction of title-deeds and charters in the French Revolution. > They turned upon the châteaux in order to destroy the charterrooms, the lists and the title-deeds; and houses were burned down if the masters did not relinquish with a good grace the feudal rights recorded in the charters, the rolls and the rest. > All the title-deeds held by the Abbey of the Bernardins in the neighbouring communes were carried off. > They did them no harm but the registers and title-deeds of feudal landlordism they never spared. They burned them, after compelling the lord to swear that he would relinquish his rights. This isn't something that government's usually do, and modern tech infrastructure and practices specifically attempt to prevent with backups, access control, and even buddy systems (in the realm of finance - though the technical name of this practice escapes me at the moment). From Kropotkin, P. (1927). The Great French Revolution, 1789-1793 (N. F. Dryhurst, Trans.) New York: Vanguard Printings. (Original work published 1909) CHAPTER XVI THE PEASANT RISING (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/kropotkin/frenchrev/xvi.html http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/kropotkin/fren...)
radu_floricica 4y ago
Good luck anybody doing business with the government.
dragonwriter 4y ago
> As POTUS that seems like something he is free to do right? No, destroying records that are required to be kept under federal law is not something the President is allowed to do.

kelseyfrog 4y ago

Indeed a weird question. It is reminiscent of the destruction of title-deeds and charters in the French Revolution. > They turned upon the châteaux in order to destroy the charterrooms, the lists and the title-deeds; and houses were burned down if the masters did not relinquish with a good grace the feudal rights recorded in the charters, the rolls and the rest. > All the title-deeds held by the Abbey of the Bernardins in the neighbouring communes were carried off. > They did them no harm but the registers and title-deeds of feudal landlordism they never spared. They burned them, after compelling the lord to swear that he would relinquish his rights. This isn't something that government's usually do, and modern tech infrastructure and practices specifically attempt to prevent with backups, access control, and even buddy systems (in the realm of finance - though the technical name of this practice escapes me at the moment). From Kropotkin, P. (1927). The Great French Revolution, 1789-1793 (N. F. Dryhurst, Trans.) New York: Vanguard Printings. (Original work published 1909) CHAPTER XVI THE PEASANT RISING (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/kropotkin/frenchrev/xvi.html http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/kropotkin/fren...)

radu_floricica 4y ago

Good luck anybody doing business with the government.

dragonwriter 4y ago

> As POTUS that seems like something he is free to do right? No, destroying records that are required to be kept under federal law is not something the President is allowed to do.